St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

I am in the Florida panhandle to see Operation Migration bring juvenile whooping cranes, flying behind an ultralight aircraft, to Florida for the winter.

Today was the last leg of their journey, before they arrive at their permanent home at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.  The will eventually return to Wisconsin, then migrate back to Florida next winter on their own (maybe!).  See the Operation Migration website:  http://operationmigration.org/

It was a beautiful, cold, morning today.  I was excited to see the birds come in; I have seen them many times and never get tired of it!  It's an awesome sight.

My car has a little snow thingy to let me know it is COLD outside!  (I don't see it too often!)

 

The ground was COVERED in snow!

 

Here at the town of St. Marks, they are very excited to see these cranes come in.  A lot of people turned out just to see them fly overhead for a couple minutes.   I love the support that Operation Migration receives.  They are a group that is dedicated to seeing this endangered species survive.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the cranes were a little cranky this morning and didn't want to fly (hey, I was cranky too getting up so early on a cold morning!).  So, they didn't come in.  Being it was a nice day, I headed over to the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge.  It is a beautiful place that I have never been to before!

 

The sun was so pretty coming up over the refuge.

 

 

It's a great day when the first thing you see is the granddaddy of all raptors: the bald eagle.

 

 

 

There's no bad view here.

 

 

At the end of the road through the refuge is the St. Marks Lighthouse. 

 

 

This is a little hiking area behind the visitor center.  It has a nice boardwalk and is a very easy, short hike. It was pretty back there.

 

 

Glorious day!

 

 

I am glad I have my warm [silly] hat on. 

 

 

 

This wildlife refuge is a mecca for birds.  There are so many different wading birds.  There are also a lot of ducks, which I wasn't able to identify (I don't know that much about ducks).  I loved seeing all the birds.

 

An egret who really didn't mind me taking his close-up.



 

 

A cute little kingfisher

 

Pelicans, herons, gulls - they are all here.

 

He looked cold!

 

Blue heron

 

Pondering life.

 

A pelican flying in.

 

A little blue and a snowy

 

I came here on two different days, and these little guys were in the EXACT same spot both days!

 

I enjoyed this beautiful wildlife refuge! I can't wait to come back!

 

 

After my super-busy day birdwatching, I enjoyed a fantastic meal at a vegan restaurant in Tallahssee called Soul Vegetarian.  It was SO delicious.  A real stick-to-your-ribs meal!

 

This is collard greens, vegetable rice, conbread and curry tofu. 

OMG, SO GOOD!

 

 

The tofu was out of this world!

 

Check out their website:  http://www.soulvegtallahassee.com/